Labour's public health spokesman Diane Abbott says there is a culture of 'sexting, slut-shaming and striptease' in British schools

Children are being seriously damaged by the ‘pornification’ of British culture, a senior Labour figure will warn today.

Shadow public health minister Diane
Abbott will admit that the notion that overt, public displays of
sexuality were ‘enlightened liberation’ was wrong – and has instead
created a ‘prison’ for a generation of young women.

Following yesterday’s warning by the
Prime Minister’s new childhood guru Claire Perry that parents must
challenge children about their text and internet messages, Miss Abbott
will agree there is a pernicious culture of ‘sexting, slut-shaming and
striptease’ in British schools.

Parents are ‘struggling to cope’ and
need help to block inappropriate content on the internet and mobile
phones, she will say, adding:

‘We need to start a national conversation
between parents and their children about sex, pornography and
technology.

‘For so long, it’s been argued that
overt, public displays of sexuality are an enlightened liberation.

'But I
believe that for many, the pressure of conforming to hypersexualisation
and its pitfalls is a prison. And the permanence of social media and
technology can be a life sentence.’’

The Labour frontbencher’s
intervention, in a speech to the Fabian Women’s Network, suggests an
emerging political consensus on the need for radical thinking on the
commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood.

In yesterday’s Daily Mail, Mrs Perry,
appointed by the Prime Minister as his adviser on the issue last month,
set out a range of proposals including better systems for parents and
children to report inappropriate behaviour online, restrictions on
access to sexually explicit music videos and ‘lads’ mags’, and better
teaching of internet safety in schools.

Most controversially, she insisted
parents should challenge the culture of ‘children’s rights’ which
suggests they should be able to communicate with friends and strangers
online or by text in private.

Miss Abbott will today agree that parents must be put ‘back in control’.

‘I want to highlight what I believe is
the rise of a secret garden, striptease culture in British schools and
society, which has been put beyond the control of British families by
fast-developing technology, and an increasingly pornified British
culture,’ she will say.

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‘There’s something wrong with a
society as a whole when children say they have no-one to turn to for
advice because their parents – outwitted by technology, and struggling
to juggle work and home life – don't really know what's going on.

‘There’s something wrong with a
society when many young girls of all classes are pressurised into
exposing themselves online, and are then humiliated.

‘There’s something wrong with a
society when most children say their sex education is out-of-touch,
irrelevant and too little too late. And where boys end up turning to
hardcore online pornography to teach them what they think they need to
know.

Many young girls are being forced to conform to hypersexualisation (picture posed by model)

‘There’s something wrong with a
society that normalises children of every background “sexting” from
their bedrooms. There’s something wrong with a society that sells
T-shirts for little girls emblazoned with "future porn star", and when
padded bras, thongs and high heeled shoes are marketed and sold to
children.

‘There something wrong with a society
that has gangs of disenfranchised young men who use rape and sexual
assault as the weapon of choice.’

Miss Abbott will reject the idea that
she is ‘hankering after some rose-tinted picture of childhood’. She will
insist: ‘Do we really have to just accept things as they are? As
parents we're told - often by our own kids - that we've just got to live
with it - that the world has changed.

'But I don’t think we should
simply throw our hands up and accept the world – and the all-consuming
market - as it is.

‘We need to talk about how we put
families, and not the lowest common denominator of the market, back in
control. We’ve got to build a society based on open-minded family
values, and not ‘anything-goes’ market values.

‘Parents and teachers have a duty to
ensure that children develop a healthy view of sexuality, distinct from
this porn version that is swamping and infiltrating British life.

'Because it’s a very specific form of sexuality that’s being imposed, on
children and adults: a porn version. This is what kids are dealing with
on a daily basis.

‘Young people are accessing far harder
pornographic images than ten or 15 years ago. We have to ask, does that
influence what they themselves put out on the internet?’

Miss Abbott will say that while most
parents would not allow their children to watch an 18-rated film, they
are often ‘powerless’ when it comes to what they access online and by
mobile phone.

‘I think one of the symptoms of the
culture that has grown is that young girls and women are subject to
"slut shaming" and sexual bullying in schools.

‘It’s hypersexualized British culture
in which women are objectified, objectify one another, and are
encouraged to objectify themselves; where homophobic bullying is
normalised; and young boys’ world view is shaped by hardcore American
pornography and other dark corners of the internet,’ she will say.

David Cameron's new childhood guru, MP Claire Perry wants parents to ask their children about their text messages

Labour is calling for a ‘sex education
revolution’ in schools – with lessons focused on ‘preparing young
people to form healthy, respectful, emotionally fulfilling
relationships’.

Miss Abbott will also say it must be ‘easier for parents to block adult and age-restricted material across all media’.

‘Internet users should have to make an
active choice over whether they allow adult content or not. We must
look at ‘child friendly’ computers and mobile phones where adult content
is filtered out by default,’ she will say

Mrs Perry told the BBC’s Daily
Politics: ‘Parents are feeling a powerlessness about their kids’ lives.
When we were growing up, if someone was phoning our houses or sending
letters to the home, parents would feel they had a responsibility to
intervene.

‘Somehow we have kind of ceded that responsibility. We feel a nervousness about becoming involved in our kids’ online lives.

‘I’ve got three children – it’s not an
easy thing to do. Of course children should have privacy in childhood,
but we have exposed them to third party dangers and almost become
complicit in that.

‘We are usually paying for these
mobile phone contracts and devices. Haven’t we got a responsibility to
monitor what’s going on? We need a return to common sense.’

Nick Pickles, director of the Big
Brother Watch campaign group, insisted there was ‘total lack of
evidence’ to support what he branded Mrs Perry’s ‘Mary Whitehouse 2.0
campaign’.

‘Parenting is dependent on a
relationship of trust, and spying only undermines the parent-child
relationship. Whether reading a diary or reading a text message, privacy
is not something to be brushed aside in a wave of hysteria and cheap
headlines,’ he said.